MorganAsh has added new support-tracking features to its customer vulnerability management platform, MARS, as part of an ongoing effort to help firms meet their responsibilities under Consumer Duty.
The upgrade is designed to give firms better oversight of how support is offered to vulnerable customers, and whether it is taken up, completed or declined.
The new functionality allows users of the MorganAsh Resilience System to log when support recommendations are made, how clients respond, and whether those recommendations are acted upon. Firms can now record the status of each action – whether it is pending, partially completed, not implemented, or even declined. They can also note if support was deemed unnecessary or incorrect, with the option to add commentary for each stage of the process.
The move comes in response to recent concerns raised in the Financial Conduct Authority’s vulnerability review, which found that many firms were still failing to adequately monitor or act on outcomes for vulnerable customers. By providing a more granular view of how support is offered and actioned, MorganAsh aims to close a key gap in the industry’s approach to vulnerability management.
“This latest upgrade to MARS strengthens the ability of users to record, track and report on the support offered to vulnerable customers,” said Andrew Gething (pictured), managing director of MorganAsh.
“While it is important to identify, classify and monitor potential vulnerabilities, we also need to help mitigate any potential harm and then track whether that suggestion was suitable or even taken up.”
Gething added that without clear records at each stage of the process, firms cannot effectively assess outcomes or identify points of failure. “We must track all these individual stages as each one can fail. Without good quality data at every stage, it’s impossible for firms to know what is going on for the individual or where the failure point truly is.”
Alongside the support-tracking upgrade, MARS now includes enhanced reporting tools. These enable users to assess their vulnerable customer population against both Financial Conduct Authority and proprietary MARS vulnerability categories. Crucially, firms can now benchmark their own data against that of other MARS users, providing insight into relative performance and progress.
MorganAsh has also continued to expand its library of more than 80 ‘next step’ pathways – the predefined recommendations presented to users when a vulnerability is detected. These can be customised to reflect a firm’s own internal processes and risk appetite, and triggers can be adjusted accordingly.
Originally developed to bring objectivity and structure to vulnerability assessments, MARS collects direct input from consumers to assign a Resilience Rating – akin to a credit score – which can be tracked over time.
